Filmmaker Richard Linklater breezed through plenty of genres in his career, establishing that he's comfortable making loose comedies like Slacker, animated sci-fi thrillers like A Scanner Darkly, and even messing with longer-form studies in time with his Before trilogy, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise and Before Midnight.

Still, it's safe to say that he's never done anything even remotely like Boyhood, his latest film, because neither has anyone else.

It sounds like the most ordinary of stories: just a boy growing up. What's not ordinary is the way it's told. We meet Mason as a cute 7-year-old in Texas, rambunctious, giggling with a friend over the busty women in his mom's lingerie catalog, and played by youngster Ellar Coltrane. We will leave Mason almost 12 years later, by then slender, tall, a serious young man — and still played by Ellar Coltrane.

Linklater started filming in 2002, and finished in 2013, shooting just a few days each year (39 in all, about what he'd have shot for a more conventional film), with Ethan Hawke playing Mason's dad, Patricia Arquette playing his mom, and Ellar Coltrane not just playing, but more or less living the boy whose boyhood gives the film its title.

Initially, little Mason's got a sweetly natural innocence and vulnerability, when his mom for instance lets him and his sister, Samantha (played by the director's daughter Lorelei Linklater), know they'll be moving to Houston, and that Dad's not coming with them.

Dad does, however, want to be part of their lives, even if every second weekend when he shows up in his vintage Pontiac GTO to take them out, he's playing catch-up. Queries he puts to the kids get answered in monosyllables, and he does not want to be the biological father who gets polite conversation when he drives places and buys stuff, so he pulls the car over and begs the kids to talk to him. He even suggests what they might say — about arguments they've had on the playground, trouble they've had with schoolwork. You can hear him projecting. And so can 7-year-old Mason.

"But Dad, I mean, why is it all on us, though?" he wonders. "What about you? How was your week? You know, who do you hang out with? Do you have a girlfriend? What have you been up to?"

Dad concedes he has a point, and agrees to try to connect "more naturally."

And for the balance of the film, that's pretty much what happens. Life happens — scripted according to a plan the filmmaker laid out at the beginning, and unscripted according to a plan nature lays out in real time. As Mom and Dad grow thicker, Mason grows taller, more angular. His face loses its baby fat. And on a camping trip around the film's midpoint, with a casualness that is likely to choke up every parent watching, his voice changes.

Now, the usual way to show a kid aging a dozen years in a movie is to use several actors — one for childhood, another for adolescence, a third for late teens. But Linklater's managed something enormously richer and more resonant with what sounds like a stunt until you actually see it. Sure, other characters have grown up on-screen — in documentaries, and on TV shows that hang around forever. But not like this. Not sculpted, and controlled, with a dramatic arc that must have given everyone fits as they filmed across more than a decade, hitting milestones: that deepening of the voice, a passion developed in school for photography, Mason flirting with a girl at his first job, and getting his heart broken at 15, not by her, but by his dad. When he asks why they're cruising in a minivan rather than the GTO, his father says he sold the car he'd long since forgotten he'd promised to give to his son when he turned 16. So much pain in one accusative phrase: "You don't remember?"

It seems almost odd to talk of performances when they're as natural and unforced as they are in Boyhood, but they're fascinating, with the adults nearly as physically altered by time as the kids. So are the offhand glimpses the film gives you of a decade's worth of music, video game consoles and cellphones. The picture is so unassuming and understated as it wends its way through a dozen years in the life of this family — in all our lives, really — that you're likely to be surprised at how invested you feel — how proud and conflicted — when Mason finally stands on the brink of adulthood.

The film gives every appearance of happening exactly the way life does. And exactly the way life does, it makes you care. (Recommended)

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Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Filmmaker Richard Linklater is known for making really varied films from loose comedies like "Slacker" to that trio of romantic talk fests, "Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset" and "Before Midnight." It's still safe to say he's never done anything even remotely like his latest film titled "Boyhood," and neither has anyone else says our critic, Bob Mondello.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: This is going to sound like the most ordinary of stories - just a boy growing up. What is not ordinary, is the way it's told. We meet Mason, rambunctious, giggling and played by youngster Ellar Coltrane.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOYHOOD")

ELLAR COLTRANE: (As Mason) Come in the street. (Laughing) Dude.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I know, right?

MONDELLO: We will leave Mason almost 12 years later - slender, tall, a serious young man, and still played by Ellar Coltrane. Filmmaker Richard Linklater started filming in 2002 and finished in 2013, shooting just a few days each year with Ethan Hawke playing Mason's dad, Patricia Arquette playing his mom and Ellar Coltrane living the boy whose boyhood gives this film its title. Initially, little Mason's got a sweetly natural innocence and vulnerability when his mom, for instance, lets him and his sister, Samantha, know that they'll be moving to Houston and that dad's not coming with them.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOYHOOD")

COLTRANE: (As Mason) Do you still love dad?

PATRICIA ARQUETTE: (As Olivia) I still love your father, but that doesn't mean it was healthy for us to stay together.

COLTRANE: (As Mason) What if after we move he's trying to find us, and he can't?

ARQUETTE: (As Olivia) Oh, that won't be a problem. He can call Grandma and she'll tell him, or he can call information. We won't be hard to find.

MONDELLO: Dad, meanwhile, does want to be part of their lives, though every weekend when he shows up in his vintage Pontiac GTO to take them out, he's kind of playing catch-up.

MONDELLO: This dad does not want to be the biological father who gets polite conversation when he drives places and buys stuff, so he pulls the car over and begs.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOYHOOD")

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) Talk to me. Samantha, how was your week? I don't know dad, it was kind of tough. Billy and Ellen broke up, and Ellen's kind of mad at me 'cause she saw me talking to Billy...

MONDELLO: Mason listens to this for a bit, and then establishes that he is his father's son.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOYHOOD")

COLTRANE: (As Mason) But dad, I mean why is it all on us though? You know, what about you? How was your week? You know, who do you hang out with? Do you have a girlfriend? What have you been up to?

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) I see your point. So we should just let it happen more naturally, OK.

MONDELLO: More naturally, and that's just what does happen. Life happens, scripted according to a plan the filmmaker laid out at the beginning and unscripted according to a plan nature lays out in real time. As mom and dad grow thicker, Mason grows taller - more angular. His face loses its baby fat, and on a camping trip around the film's midpoint with a casualness that'll likely choke up every parent watching, his voice changes. Now, the usual way to show a kid aging a dozen years in a movie is to use several actors - one for childhood, another for adolescence, a third for late teens. But Linklater's managed something enormously richer and more resonant with what sounds like a stunt until you actually see it. Sure, other characters have grown up on screen in documentaries and on TV shows that hang around forever, but not like this - not sculpted and controlled, with a dramatic arc that must have have given everyone fits as they filmed across more than a decade. Hitting milestones - Mason flirting with a girl at his first job, getting his heartbroken at 15 - not by her, but by his dad when he asks why their cruising in a minivan rather than the GTO.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BOYHOOD")

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) I had to sell that.

COLTRANE: (As Mason) You what?

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) Yeah, I had to sell that.

COLTRANE: (As Mason) You don't remember?

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) Remember what?

COLTRANE: (As Mason) Really? You said that was going to be my car when I turned 16.

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) What? No I didn't. I never said that.

COLTRANE: (As Mason) I remember. I was in third grade and you were taking me over to Anthony Nadar's house for his birthday, and he was talking about how much he loved your car. And so you were all like, oh, this is going to be Mason's when he turns 16.

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) Alright, first off, I have no memory of that, alright? And second of all, I would never say that - never.

COLTRANE: (As Mason) You did, though.

HAWKE: (As Mason Sr.) What...

MONDELLO: It seems almost odd to talk of performances when they're as natural and unforced as they are in "Boyhood," but let me just to say they are wonderful. So are the offhand glimpses the film gives you of a decade's worth of music and video game consoles and cell phones. The picture is so unassuming and understated as it winds its way through a dozen years in the life of this family - in all our lives, really - that you're likely to be surprised at how invested you feel - how proud and conflicted when Mason finally stands on the brink of adulthood. The film gives every appearance of happening the way life does. And the way life does, it makes you care. I'm Bob Mondello.

BLOCK: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.